COLLEGE BASEBALL: Berry downs LaGrange, 7-1, for first win

Trey Rampy threw six scoreless innings, striking out five, as the Berry College baseball team earned its first win of the season with a 7-1 victory over No. 10 LaGrange College on Tuesday afternoon.

Berry jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the contest as Quinn Smith singled through the left side of the infield to bring home Will Deems and open up the Vikings’ scoring in the bottom of the first.

Smith then reached first on a Panther error to bring home Spence Johns and move the lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning.

Casey Whitaker tacked on the Vikings’ third run of the outing in the bottom of that same inning, scoring on a wild pitch to move the score to 3-0.

Berry plated three additional runs in the bottom of the fifth inning with Smith reaching on an error and both Tyler Calvert and Dylan Beasley adding RBI singles to push the score to 6-0.

Beasley then rounded out the Vikings’ scoring with a double down the left field line to bring home Jacob Delk and expand the final lead to 7-0.

LaGrange (5-3) looked for a comeback in the top of the ninth inning with McKinely Erves hitting into a fielder’s choice RBI to shortstop, but the deficit was too great.

Whitaker went 3 for 4 with two runs for Berry, while Smith went 2 for 4 with a run and an RBI. Beasley also went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and a double.

Berry (1-1) combined for 10 hits and no errors in the outing, while LaGrange added six hits and committed three errors.

Berry will travel to Jackson, Miss., to take on Belhaven College in their next contest Friday at 4 p.m.

In other action:

Carson-Newman 6, Shorter 5

A four-run second put host Carson-Newman out in front early, and Shorter University fought to the end but came up short in a 6-5 road loss Tuesday.

Shorter (3-5) cut the deficit in half in the top of the third as Isaiah Maddela hit a 3-2 pitch into left field for a base hit and a sacrifice fly from Victor Perez sliced the score to 4-2.

Carson-Newman added a run in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly to left field to stretch the margin to three at 5-2.

With runners at first and second in the top of the fourth, Shorter’s Raul Cortes laced a double into right center field to score Angel Acosta. A sacrifice fly to right from Bailey Gertsner pulled the Hawks within a run at 5-4.

The Hawks are back in action Friday as they host a weekend series against Oakland City at the Ledbetter Baseball Complex.